Wider Bandwidth Dual Connectivity Indication

The subject disclosure relates to dual connectivity in cellular networks.

Dual connectivity provides a mechanism for a user equipment (UE) to connect to multiple base stations (e.g., eNodeB, gNodeB, etc.) to increase bandwidth. UEs can connect to multiple gNodeBs or to a combination of gNodeBs and eNodeBs for dual connectivity. Bandwidth availability may vary depending on the resources available to the various base stations.

The subject disclosure describes, among other things, illustrative embodiments for providing enhanced dual connectivity information to UEs. Other embodiments are described in the subject disclosure.

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include a device, comprising a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations. The operations may include obtaining information describing capabilities of neighboring base stations in a radio access network (RAN); based on the information describing the capabilities of the neighboring base stations, including an information element (IE) in a system information block (SIB) indicating that the device can support dual connectivity operation using at least one capability of at least one of the neighboring base stations; and transmitting the SIB.

Additional aspects of the subject disclosure may include the device being an eNodeB or a gNodeB, and/or the dual connectivity being one of E-UTRA/NR Dual Connectivity (ENDC), NR Carrier Aggregation (NRCA), or NR Dual Connectivity (NRDC).

Further additional aspects of the subject disclosure include the information describing the capabilities of the neighboring base stations comprises frequency band information, the SIB including the frequency band information, and wherein the capabilities of the neighboring base stations include an ability to support dual connectivity using at least one particular frequency band.

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations. The operations may include obtaining information describing capabilities of neighboring base stations in a radio access network (RAN); based on the information describing the capabilities of the neighboring base stations, including an information element (IE) in a system information block (SIB) indicating that the device can support dual connectivity operation using at least one capability of at least one of the neighboring base stations; and transmitting the SIB.

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include an apparatus, comprising: a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising: receiving a system information block (SIB) from a base station; detecting, within the SIB, an information element indicating that the base station can support dual connectivity using particular resources of at least one neighboring base station; and based on the information element, attaching to the base station.

Additional aspects of the subject disclosure may include the apparatus comprising a 5G stand-alone (SA) user equipment (UE) or a 5G non-stand-alone (NSA) UE, and/or wherein the information element includes an indication of at least one frequency resource.

Various embodiments described herein introduce a new Information Element (IE) in a System Information Block (SIB) to indicate whether a specific long term evolution (LTE) cell or new radio (NR) cell is able to support a wider bandwidth dual connectivity through E-UTRA/NR Dual Connectivity (ENDC), or NR carrier aggregation (NRCA), or NR Dual Connectivity (NRDC). A 5G Non-Stand-Alone (NSA) UE and/or a 5G Stand-Alone (SA) UE receiving such an indication will then be able to prioritize a specific cell to camp on. LTE or 5G networks will then be able to configure a wider bandwidth dual connectivity for that UE to achieve a much higher throughput without having to redirect the UE to other cells first. Various embodiments described herein provide 5G UEs an ability to select/reselect the most appropriate LTE anchor cell or 5G primary cell to achieve a better data throughput performance. Some embodiments also reduce LTE/5G network signaling.

In today's 5G networks environment, a 5G NSA UE has no visibility into whether any LTE cell can be used as an anchor cell to set up a wider bandwidth ENDC or not. Similarly, a 5G SA UE also has no visibility into whether any NR cell can be used as a primary NR cell to set up a wider bandwidth NRDC or not. When a 5G UE camps on an LTE Cell or an NR cell which can't be configured to a wider bandwidth dual connectivity, the UE's data throughput performance may be impacted. To improve the UE's data performance in this example, a 5G network may have to redirect or handover the UE to a different LTE cell or NR cell in order to configure a wider bandwidth dual connectivity. This handover may take additional time and introduce additional network signaling, and the handover may have to wait until the UE completes its data service and goes idle, resulting in a poor user experience.

In some embodiments described herein, a new information element (IE) may be included in a System Information Block (e.g., SIB1) to indicate whether a specific LTE cell or NR cell is able to support a wider bandwidth dual connectivity through ENDC, NRCA, or NRDC. This new IE may be added to the SIB in any manner. For example, the new IE may be added using an existing mechanism such the existing nonCriticalExtension. In some embodiments, the new IE may include a single true/false flag to indicate that the cell is able to support a wider bandwidth dual connectivity. In other embodiments, the new IE may include multiple true/false flags to indicate capabilities of the dual connectivity at a finer granularity. For example, the new IE may include indications of the frequency bands available for dual connectivity and or bandwidths available for dual connectivity. In still further embodiments, the new IE may include indications of the number of neighboring base stations that may support wider bandwidth dual connectivity.

When a 5G UE reads the SIB information including the new IE, based on the new indicating availability of wider bandwidths, the 5G UE may prioritize this LTE cell or NR cell when performing cell selection or cell reselection, so that the network may configure wider bandwidth dual connectivity for that UE to achieve higher throughput data performance.

Various embodiments described herein provide a new 5G UE capability that allows the UE to recognize an LTE cell or NR cell that can support wider bandwidth dual connectivity, thus be able to prioritize such cell to camp on. Additional capabilities include better utilizing 5G network resource to achieve better data performance for 5G UEs, achieving better user experience for 5G users, reducing handover or redirect network signaling, and reducing network load.

Referring now to, a block diagram is shown illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a systemin accordance with various aspects described herein. For example, systemcan facilitate in whole or in part providing enhanced dual connectivity information to UEs. In particular, a communications networkis presented for providing broadband accessto a plurality of data terminalsvia access terminal, wireless accessto a plurality of mobile devicesand vehiclevia base station or access point, voice accessto a plurality of telephony devices, via switching deviceand/or media accessto a plurality of audio/video display devicesvia media terminal. In addition, communication networkis coupled to one or more content sourcesof audio, video, graphics, text and/or other media. While broadband access, wireless access, voice accessand media accessare shown separately, one or more of these forms of access can be combined to provide multiple access services to a single client device (e.g., mobile devicescan receive media content via media terminal, data terminalcan be provided voice access via switching device, and so on).

The communications networkincludes a plurality of network elements (NE),,,, etc. for facilitating the broadband access, wireless access, voice access, media accessand/or the distribution of content from content sources. The communications networkcan include a circuit switched or packet switched network, a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) network, Internet protocol (IP) network, a cable network, a passive or active optical network, a 4G, 5G, or higher generation wireless access network, WIMAX network, UltraWideband network, personal area network or other wireless access network, a broadcast satellite network and/or other communications network.

In various embodiments, the access terminalcan include a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), cable modem termination system (CMTS), optical line terminal (OLT) and/or other access terminal. The data terminalscan include personal computers, laptop computers, netbook computers, tablets or other computing devices along with digital subscriber line (DSL) modems, data over coax service interface specification (DOCSIS) modems or other cable modems, a wireless modem such as a 4G, 5G, or higher generation modem, an optical modem and/or other access devices.

In various embodiments, the base station or access pointcan include a 4G, 5G, or higher generation base station, an access point that operates via an 802.11 standard such as 802.11n, 802.11ac or other wireless access terminal. The mobile devicescan include mobile phones, e-readers, tablets, phablets, wireless modems, and/or other mobile computing devices.

In various embodiments, the switching devicecan include a private branch exchange or central office switch, a media services gateway, VoIP gateway or other gateway device and/or other switching device. The telephony devicescan include traditional telephones (with or without a terminal adapter), VOIP telephones and/or other telephony devices.

In various embodiments, the media terminalcan include a cable head-end or other TV head-end, a satellite receiver, gateway or other media terminal. The display devicescan include televisions with or without a set top box, personal computers and/or other display devices.

In various embodiments, the content sourcesinclude broadcast television and radio sources, video on demand platforms and streaming video and audio services platforms, one or more content data networks, data servers, web servers and other content servers, and/or other sources of media.

In various embodiments, the communications networkcan include wired, optical and/or wireless links and the network elements,,,, etc. can include service switching points, signal transfer points, service control points, network gateways, media distribution hubs, servers, firewalls, routers, edge devices, switches and other network nodes for routing and controlling communications traffic over wired, optical and wireless links as part of the Internet and other public networks as well as one or more private networks, for managing subscriber access, for billing and network management and for supporting other network functions.

In various embodiments, the base station or access pointcan include a 4G, 5G, or higher generation base station, an access point that operates via an 802.11 standard such as 802.11n, 802.11ac or other wireless access terminal. The mobile devicescan include mobile phones, e-readers, tablets, phablets, wireless modems, and/or other mobile computing devices.

In some embodiments, base stationis one of a plurality of base stations that may be able to provide a wide bandwidth connection through dual connectivity. For example, base stationalong with another base station (not shown) may provide dual connectivity to one of mobile devicesthrough ENDC, NRCA, or NRDC.

In some embodiments, base stationmay communicate with other base stations to determine capabilities of other base stations with respect to dual connectivity. For example, base stationmay be an eNodeB and may communicate with gNodeBs within range to determine if the gNodeB is capable of ENDC and has access to frequency spectrum that allows a wider bandwidth dual connectivity. Also for example, base stationmay be a gNodeB and may communicate with other gNodeBs within range to determine if any of the other gNodeBs are capable of NRDC or NRCA and have access to frequency spectrum that allows a wider bandwidth dual connectivity.

When other base stations capable of wide bandwidth dual connectivity are identified, base stationmay populate an information element in a system information block to provide an indication to UEs that should a UE attach to base station, wide bandwidth dual connectivity may be available to the UE when requested. These and other embodiments are further described below.

is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a system functioning within the communication network ofin accordance with various aspects described herein.shows mobile deviceA and base stationsA,A, andA. Mobile deviceA may be any type of mobile device capable of dual connectivity. For example, mobile deviceA may be a standalone 5G UE or may be a non-standalone 5G UE.

Each of base stationsA,A, andA may communicate with other base stations nearby (also referred to herein as “neighboring base stations”) to determine if the neighboring base stations can support dual connectivity. For example, base stationsA,A, andA may be eNodeBs that communicate with nearby gNodeBs (not shown) to determine whether the nearby base stations can support dual connectivity. Also for example, base stationsA,A, andA may obtain information from the neighboring base stations regarding the frequency bands with which the neighboring base stations may provide dual connectivity, and by extension the amount of bandwidth that may be available for the dual connectivity.

In the example of, base stationsA andA do not have access to neighboring base stations that support wider bandwidth dual connectivity, and base stationdoes have access to neighboring base stations that support wider bandwidth dual connectivity. Because base stationsA andA do not have access to neighboring base stations that support wider bandwidth dual connectivity, these base stations produce a system information block that does not include an indication that the base station has access to a neighboring base station that supports wider bandwidth dual connectivity. This is shown inwhere base stationA broadcasts system information blockA and base stationA broadcast system information blockA without the indication that the base station has access to a neighboring base station that supports wider bandwidth dual connectivity.

Because base stationA does have access to neighboring base stations that support wider bandwidth dual connectivity, this base station produces a system information block that does include an indication that the base station has access to a neighboring base station that supports wider bandwidth dual connectivity. This is shown inwhere base stationA broadcasts system information blockA that includes an indication that base stationA has access to nearby base stations that are capable of providing a wider bandwidth dual connectivity.

The indication of the ability to provide a wider bandwidth dual connectivity may be provided in any form. In some embodiments, a new information element within the system information block is introduced to provide this indication. In some embodiments, the information element may include a simple true/false flag to indicate the capability exists. In further embodiments, the information element may include additional information regarding the capabilities of neighboring base stations. For example, a new information element may include a listing of frequency bands, and a true/false flag maybe provided for each frequency band to give the receiving UE an indication of the frequency bands available for dual connectivity should the UE attach to the base station that is broadcasting the system information block.

One example embodiment of a new information element is provided below. The information element is referred to herein as “dualConnectivityWiderbandWidth,” however any name may be used. In some embodiments, the information element may be included in a System Information Block (e.g. SIB1) to indicate whether a specific LTE cell or NR cell is able to support a wider bandwidth dual connectivity through ENDC, NRCA, or NRDC. This new IE may be added to the SIB in any manner. For example, the new IE may be added using an existing mechanism such the existing nonCriticalExtension. One example embodiment of a new IE implemented as a nonCriticalExtension may appear as:

Continuing the example of, mobile deviceA receives system information blocks from each of base stationsA,A, andA. This is shown inwhere mobile deviceA receives system information blockA from base stationA, system information blockA from base stationA, and system information blockA from base stationA. As described above, system information blocksA andA do not include an indication that the broadcasting base station has access to neighboring base stations that support wider bandwidth dual connectivity, and system information blockA does include an indication that the broadcasting base station has access to neighboring base stations that support wider bandwidth dual connectivity.

In some embodiments, mobile deviceA may utilize the indication of the ability of dual connectivity in its decision to determine which base station to attach to, or to connect to. In the example of, mobile deviceA determines that it shall connect to base stationA based on the indication provided in system information blockA. Accordingly, mobile deviceA sends RRC connection requestA to base stationA.

depict illustrative embodiments of methods in accordance with various aspects described herein.depicts embodiments of methods that may be performed by a base station or a processing system associated with a base station. For example, methodB may be performed by a processing system either in, or connected to, an eNodeB or a gNodeB.

AtB, information is obtained describing capabilities of neighboring base stations in a radio access network (RAN). In some embodiments, the information is obtained through direct communication with neighboring base stations (e.g., X2 interface, Xn interface, etc.). In other embodiments, the information is obtained from other network elements in a communications network, such as communications network().

The information obtained atB may include any type or amount of information describing capabilities of neighboring base stations. For example, in some embodiments, the information may include indications whether neighboring base stations are capable of supporting dual connectivity. Also for example, in some embodiments, the information may include an amount of bandwidth that neighboring base stations may be able to supply during dual connectivity. In still further examples, the information may include a listing of frequency bands that neighboring base stations may have access to during dual connectivity.

AtB, an information element is included in a system information block indicating wider bandwidth possibilities using the capabilities of the neighboring base stations. In some embodiments, this corresponds to including a single/true false flag in a new information element to indicate that wider bandwidth dual connectivity is a possibility. In other embodiments, the new information element may include a single true/false flag for each neighboring base station that is capable of supporting wider bandwidth dual connectivity. In still further embodiments, the new information element may include multiple true/false flags for listings of frequency bands available to neighboring base stations when using dual connectivity. And in some embodiments, the new information element may include listings of bandwidths available at various neighboring base stations when using dual connectivity. AtB, the system information block is transmitted.

depicts embodiments of methods that may be performed by a mobile device, a UE, or a processing system associated with a mobile device or a UE. AtC, a system information block is received from a base station. In some embodiments, this corresponds to mobile deviceA receiving system information blocks from the various base stations shown in.

AtC, an information element is detected in the system information block, where the information element indicates wider bandwidth possibilities using capabilities of neighboring base stations. In some embodiments, the information element includes a single flag indicating that the base station broadcasting the system information block is capable of dual connectivity. In other embodiments, the information element may include highly granular information regarding various base stations that are nearby to the base station broadcasting the system information block. For example, the information element may include a listing of neighboring base stations, bandwidths available to the neighboring base stations, and/or frequency bands available to the neighboring base stations. The UE or mobile device performing methodC may utilize system information blocks received from multiple base stations to determine which base station to attach to. AtC, the UE or mobile device performing methodC attaches to a base station based on information included in the information element in the broadcast system information block.

While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respective processes are shown and described as a series of blocks in, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein.

Referring now to, a block diagramis shown illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a virtualized communication network in accordance with various aspects described herein. In particular a virtualized communication network is presented that can be used to implement some or all of the subsystems, functions, and methods described herein. For example, virtualized communication networkcan facilitate in whole or in part providing enhanced dual connectivity information to UEs.

In particular, a cloud networking architecture is shown that leverages cloud technologies and supports rapid innovation and scalability via a transport layer, a virtualized network function cloudand/or one or more cloud computing environments. In various embodiments, this cloud networking architecture is an open architecture that leverages application programming interfaces (APIs); reduces complexity from services and operations; supports more nimble business models; and rapidly and seamlessly scales to meet evolving customer requirements including traffic growth, diversity of traffic types, and diversity of performance and reliability expectations.

In contrast to traditional network elements-which are typically integrated to perform a single function, the virtualized communication network employs virtual network elements (VNEs),,, etc. that perform some or all of the functions of network elements,,,, etc. For example, the network architecture can provide a substrate of networking capability, often called Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) or simply infrastructure that is capable of being directed with software and Software Defined Networking (SDN) protocols to perform a broad variety of network functions and services. This infrastructure can include several types of substrates. The most typical type of substrate being servers that support Network Function Virtualization (NFV), followed by packet forwarding capabilities based on generic computing resources, with specialized network technologies brought to bear when general-purpose processors or general-purpose integrated circuit devices offered by merchants (referred to herein as merchant silicon) are not appropriate. In this case, communication services can be implemented as cloud-centric workloads.

As an example, a traditional network element(shown in), such as an edge router can be implemented via a VNEcomposed of NFV software modules, merchant silicon, and associated controllers. The software can be written so that increasing workload consumes incremental resources from a common resource pool, and moreover so that it is elastic: so, the resources are only consumed when needed. In a similar fashion, other network elements such as other routers, switches, edge caches, and middle boxes are instantiated from the common resource pool. Such sharing of infrastructure across a broad set of uses makes planning and growing infrastructure easier to manage.

In an embodiment, the transport layerincludes fiber, cable, wired and/or wireless transport elements, network elements and interfaces to provide broadband access, wireless access, voice access, media accessand/or access to content sourcesfor distribution of content to any or all of the access technologies. In particular, in some cases a network element needs to be positioned at a specific place, and this allows for less sharing of common infrastructure. Other times, the network elements have specific physical layer adapters that cannot be abstracted or virtualized and might require special DSP code and analog front ends (AFEs) that do not lend themselves to implementation as VNEs,or. These network elements can be included in transport layer.

The virtualized network function cloudinterfaces with the transport layerto provide the VNEs,,, etc. to provide specific NFVs. In particular, the virtualized network function cloudleverages cloud operations, applications, and architectures to support networking workloads. The virtualized network elements,andcan employ network function software that provides either a one-for-one mapping of traditional network element function or alternately some combination of network functions designed for cloud computing. For example, VNEs,andcan include route reflectors, domain name system (DNS) servers, and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) servers, system architecture evolution (SAE) and/or mobility management entity (MME) gateways, broadband network gateways, IP edge routers for IP-VPN, Ethernet and other services, load balancers, distributers and other network elements. Because these elements do not typically need to forward large amounts of traffic, their workload can be distributed across a number of servers—each of which adds a portion of the capability, and which creates an elastic function with higher availability overall than its former monolithic version. These virtual network elements,,, etc. can be instantiated and managed using an orchestration approach similar to those used in cloud compute services.

The cloud computing environmentscan interface with the virtualized network function cloudvia APIs that expose functional capabilities of the VNEs,,, etc. to provide the flexible and expanded capabilities to the virtualized network function cloud. In particular, network workloads may have applications distributed across the virtualized network function cloudand cloud computing environmentand in the commercial cloud or might simply orchestrate workloads supported entirely in NFV infrastructure from these third-party locations.

Turning now to, there is illustrated a block diagram of a computing environment in accordance with various aspects described herein. In order to provide additional context for various embodiments of the embodiments described herein,and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environmentin which the various embodiments of the subject disclosure can be implemented. In particular, computing environmentcan be used in the implementation of network elements,,,, access terminal, base station or access point, switching device, media terminal, and/or VNEs,,, etc. Each of these devices can be implemented via computer-executable instructions that can run on one or more computers, and/or in combination with other program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software. For example, computing environmentcan facilitate in whole or in part providing enhanced dual connectivity information to UEs.

Generally, program modules comprise routines, programs, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods can be practiced with other computer system configurations, comprising single-processor or multiprocessor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which can be operatively coupled to one or more associated devices.